Mr Optimist
by Literature work
Summary: To Edward it was all part of one's perspective, but though he had to give everything, he knew that there was always something better out there for him to hold on to. Trade one life for the next. Simple one shot. Brotherhood Final transmutation. Please review!


**Okay. Just a simple one shot. I hope you all like it. I got the idea by literally writing the first sentence that then the rest just flowed out on the page. If you couldn't figure out already, this is based on the Brotherhood when Edward performs his last transmutation. He realizes that all he was working for was worth it even if he still has to lose everything to get it. There is always something better.**

**If you like it….. Please review! :)**

Mr. Optimist

It was always a matter of perspective to Edward. The world was a nasty place and a person could either take the best or the worst of it. Throughout his lifetime, Edward was always thought of as an optimist. He never really cared what people saw him as but for some reason he was an optimist. It seemed crazy for him to be so naive to think that the world that destroyed his family, friends, and country could be a decent and heart felt place, but then again, it wasn't. Equivalent Exchange. What the world took, it soon had to give. What the world gave it soon had to take away. Life, death, it was a circle. Maybe that was why he had to be optimistic. If he wasn't, if equivalent exchange was just a false hope, then what was life worth living for? He could have buried himself in the ground years ago to avoid even more heartbreak that came his way. However, he knew, he just knew that there was always something better. He was an optimist out of necessity, he was an optimist to survive.

Edward stood in front of the tall oak gates that floated only a few meters away from him. There was no direction, no dimension, nothing in the gate, but it was what he could make of it. A giant door almost at arms' reach but yet just out of it. He knew what was inside of it and so did the Truth. His entire being, the entire past, present, and future, his life story was all wrapped up and intricately carved into the smooth oak that made his gate. It was his, the one thing that was with him through the good, the bad, and the ugly. It was the neutral. It didn't care what happened, it didn't have a perspective on the world. It was just the data, his history written down in a series of complex equations for no one's eyes but his own. Without it, he would be nothing.

"So, Mr. Alchemist, you have returned yet again," the eerie, chilling voice of Truth rang out behind him. Edward didn't turn around, his eyes locked on the wooden masterpiece in front of him. The smile written across the Truth's white shadowed body bore into the back of his head. It was unforgettable, the first time he saw that.

"Yes I have," Edward replied distantly. The whirl of his thoughts nearly blinding him, making the white void seem even more empty than it was. He reached out with his hand and touched the intricate design of his Alchemic gate. The smooth surface felt rough underneath the pale skin of his newly restored right arm. The feelings of the world rushed back into him through his lost sense of touch. The gate gave off a vibrant shock, a vibrating hum, a calming sense of the world and all the life that ran through it. The gate was power. As he felt the shaking wood he remembered his first transmutation, the long practices that held him and his brother up all night into the early morning, the tough physical exercises that Teacher would spend quizzing them on the difference between ionic and covalent bonding. It was his past. He saw the worried looks of the soldiers standing around him as he drew the complex circle on the crumbled earth of Central Headquarters, the dust that scattered the ground from his fallen comrades and enemies, he heard the clock tick by as they all waited for something to happen, for him to come back safely, for the Elrics as innocent of heart as they might be, to come back safe and sound. It was his present. Edward wrapped his knuckles on the gate and it made a hollow metallic clank even though the sleek doors were made out of oaken wood instead of the hard malleable material of the many metals on the periodic table. He turned to see the Truth waiting patiently in the white void. A slim toothless smile spread across his face as he waited for the alchemist to give his offer. He knew what he came for. The Truth knew everything.

"So Mr. Alchemist, what are you going to give? Are you going to give your arm again? Or maybe some other form of payment? It would take a lot more to drag an entire body out of these gates, especially if it isn't your own," the million voices rang out. The Truth's white pasty hand tapped its finger patiently on his left leg. It was the only part of the white being that looked truly human. That was because it was. That was the one piece of hard evidence that the Gate took from him, to document his existence. Edward would never be able to get it back, he knew, and frankly he didn't want it. If the gate was going to record his life, let it prove to the rest of the world that he was still living. When the time came it could take his soul for his obituary, but now all it could have was his leg. He was still living. He still had a future ahead of him. Edward gave a wry smile as he pointed back to the oak doors. The Truth stared at him confused as if for an explanation.

"These doors hold everything that is, was, and will be my life with alchemy, correct?" Edward asked him. "Everything from the tiniest equations in my cells to the human transmutation." The Truth nodded its head, the smile slowly fading from his face. Edward's only grew bigger. "I give this for my brother. I give it all."

"All?" the being asked in disbelief and the alchemist nodded his head. "Why would you want to do that? All you worked for was in that gate. Without it you will be a normal human, nothing special. The power of alchemy won't reach your fingertips. You will have no future." Edward turned and looked back at his gate. He knew he was stupid, sacrificing who he was for his brother. Everything that made him the Fullmetal alchemist was in that gate. Everything that made him him was there. But he shook his head and let out a pain filled chuckle. It was worth it. Alphonse was always worth it.

"I will always have a future. It might not be with alchemy, but it will be with my brother," Edward smiled lightly. The Truth for once seemed to be unsettled. Out of the few times Edward saw it, he saw the wave of pride wash out of the being.

"All you worked for in your life will be worthless without it. You would have lived in vain," the Truth desperately tried to convince him but Edward didn't listen. No amount of begging could change his mind.

"There is always something better," Edward told him. A veil of silence fell over the void and coated their very beings in it. Edward patiently waited for the Truth to do anything, say anything, but for once the world, the universe, all, one, Edward Elric, was lost at words. Suddenly a soft chuckle rang out shattering the sound proof curtains that surrounded them. The Truth's toothy grin rang out with bellowing laughter. Edward knew that it was beat.

"You did it Mr. Alchemist, you beat me. Take it all. Everything is yours. I guess this will be the last time I see you. Farewell, Mr. Optimist," the being beamed. Edward clapped his hands, forming the circle for the last time and slammed them against the oak wall. The doors slowly began to deteriorate as he watched his being, his history, himself, fade into oblivion. As the doors finally disappeared, Edward spotted a bony figure laying in the white space behind it. The bones pronounced as the muscles were worn away from ages of malnutrition and disuse. Yet, the eyes, the golden eyes rang out through the nothingness that surrounded them and struck the iron in his heart. Edward felt his eyes water a bit as he bent down in front of his brother, in the flesh and bone. He felt as if his smile could never be washed away. It was permanently stuck on his face as he felt the few wet tears race down his face. Yes. There was always something better. This was his past, this was his present, this was his future no longer as Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, but as Edward Elric, the older brother of Alphonse, the friend of the Colonel and his team, the perfectly good, normal human being. Edward wrapped his arms around his brother and pulled him into a tight hug. His body warm against the thin breathing body of his brother, no longer cold motionless steal, but a growing, cell in the Equivalent Exchange of life. Yes. Edward had to admit. He was an optimist for survival, he was an optimist at heart. There was always something better, and he had it.


End file.
